The Asthmatic Complication
by FallingStar95
Summary: When Leonard has an unexpected asthma attack, Penny begins to reconsider what (or who) she holds most important in her life. MY FIRST TBBT FIC! Mainly Leonard/Penny with some Sheldon/Penny friendship thrown in!


Penny had never been very prone to fear. She had no problem facing spiders, snakes, heights, needles, drowning, darkness... any of the most commonly known phobias, in fact. If there _was _something in the world that could leave her paralyzed with fright, she hadn't found it yet...

...Until the day when she almost lost everything.

_ Knock knock knock._ "Penny," _Knock knock knock. _"Penny!" _Knock knock knock. _"PENNY!"

Penny opened the door exasperatedly. "What is it, Sheldon?!" she demanded, but as soon as she registered the scene before her, her ability to speak was compromised as she gasped in shock.

Sheldon was kneeling at the foot of her doorstep beside a barely conscious Leonard, who was attempting to breathe through quick, shallow breaths between his fits of spastic coughing. He was in a cold sweat, and his face was almost as pale as a sheet. His eyes were wide and staring, and she could tell that he was scared half to death. He tried to open his mouth to speak to her, but he couldn't manage more than a wheeze.

"Oh my God, what's happening?" she exclaimed, dropping to her knees beside her neighbors.

"He's been working on a project near a construction zone with lots of mold and mildew, and I think it's causing him to have a severe asthma attack," Sheldon explained hurriedly. "And considering he can't exactly drive himself to the hospital at the moment, we need you to provide us with transport."

Without another word, she ran inside her apartment, grabbed her keys, and slammed the door behind her on the way out. She bent down beside Leonard once more and put her hands on the side of his face, hoping to provide him with some measure of comfort. "Sweetie, we have to get you to my car. Do you think you can make it?"

With a tremendous cough, he jerked his head up and down, grabbing onto her arms for support. She pulled him shakily to his feet, and with Sheldon's assistance, they somehow managed to drag him out to the parking lot. "Do you have his inhaler?" Penny asked Sheldon as they laid their friend in the backseat.

"It wasn't functioning properly," he told her, climbing into the car alongside Leonard. "All we can do now is get him to the ER. ASAP!"

"On it," Penny replied, turning the keys in the ignition and speeding off into the night. She cut off several cars as she maneuvered the busy highway, including one truck driver who gave her an obscene finger gesture, which she promptly returned as she passed him. She didn't have time for their shit, especially when Leonard sounded like a broken washing machine.

They were only a couple minutes from their destination when she realized that Leonard wasn't wheezing anymore. She could still hear him fidgeting helplessly in Sheldon's lap, but the horrible sounds he had been making were now absent. "Is he okay? What's wrong?!" Penny cried, not daring to take her eyes off the road to glance back at him.

"It's called the 'silent chest.' It's when the lungs tighten so much that there's not enough air movement to produce a wheezing sound," Sheldon explained to her. "Are we not there yet?!"

"Almost. I'm going as fast as I can!" she told him.

"Well, go _faster!" _Sheldon yelled. "My best friend is dying!"

Sheldon's declaration of friendship towards Leonard was enough to bring tears to Penny's eyes, but she had so much more to cry about. If she lost Leonard, she would lose the one chance she would ever have at happiness. Out of all the sorry meatheads she'd dated, Leonard was the only one who had ever taken an interest in anything besides her boobs. He cared for her in a way that no one else ever had. He listened when she spoke because he always wanted to know what she was thinking. He always wrapped his arms around her from behind and kissed the spot beneath her ear that always drove her crazy. He constantly told her how much he loved her, and he showed it in his actions as well as his words. Hell, she was driving the car that _he_ had bought for her to drive to auditions.

She couldn't lose him. She couldn't. _Not Leonard._

Finally, the lights of the hospital were within her sight. She sped into the emergency entrance and quickly put her car into park. Without bothering to turn it off, she jumped out of her seat and sped inside while Sheldon tried to lift Leonard from the back. She sprinted to the front desk, screaming at the top of her lungs. "We need help! Please, my boyfriend is having an asthma attack! He can't breathe! HELP!"

Almost at once, a group of paramedics ran outside to help Sheldon carry Leonard, whose lips were beginning to turn blue. They quickly lifted him onto a stretcher and put an oxygen mask over his nose and mouth. "Airway's almost closed. Critical red zone!" One of the medics announced. "Take him in and put him on a dose of ipratropium. STAT!"

They began to roll him away down the emergency wing, and Penny tried to run after them. However, one of the attendants stopped her before she could get too far. "Ma'am, you're not allowed back there. Could you please have a seat?"

"No, please! I need to be with him!" she insisted, knowing that there was a chance, no matter how small, that she might not see him again. As she came to this realization, she shouted down the hallway after him. "_I LOVE YOU!"_ she yelled, praying that he could hear her. If there was even the slightest chance that he wouldn't make it out of this, she wanted those to be the last words he heard from her.

"Just take a deep breath, ma'am. We'll let you know his condition as soon as we can," the nurse assured Penny, guiding her to the waiting area. Once Penny had collapsed into one of the uncomfortable seats, the woman handed her a small stack of forms, a clipboard, and a pen. "In the meantime, if you could begin filling out some of the paperwork, it would help speed up the check-in process."

Penny snatched the materials from her hands and began to scribble down all the information she knew.

_Name: Leonard Leakey Hofstadter_

_Date of birth: May 3rd, 1980_

_Emergency contacts: Sheldon Cooper, Beverly Hofstadter,_

She briefly considered writing her own last name, but she eventually decided against it. If he came through this unscathed, she was now absolutely sure who she aspired to be and who she wanted to share a last name with. She wanted to be with him for the rest of her life. With a small, teary smile, she wrote her soon-to-be name on the last line under emergency contacts.

_Penny Hofstadter_

Once she had reached some of the trickier questons, she lifted her head and gazed around the room, trying to spot Sheldon. "Sheldon, sweetie, do you know what insurance Leonard has?"

To her surprise, he was nowhere to be seen. "Sheldon, are you here?" she called out softly, standing to her feet. When she received no response, she pulled her phone out of her back pocket and dialed his number, which she had now committed to heart, along with Leonard's, Amy's, and Bernadette's.

After a couple rings, a soft voice answered on the other line. "Yes, Penny?"

"Sheldon, where are you?" she asked.

"In your car," he replied.

"Why?! Get back here now!"

"I'd rather not be stay in there, Penny," he protested. "It smells much too sterile in there. It hurts my nose!"

She was rather angry for a moment until she heard his voice crack slightly on the other line. Her expression softened. "Sheldon... are you crying?"

"No!" he insisted unconvincingly. "Your car is just so filthy and dust-ridden that it's causing me to have a physical reaction."

Penny sighed. "Sheldon, you don't have to be embarassed. I know you're worried, and I am too. We're just gonna have to wait this out together," she told him. "Will you please come back inside? I know you want to know how he's doing just as badly as I do."

After another minute or so and a few more sniffles, he spoke again. "Fine! But if I respond to any other stimuli in an emotional fashion, I request the use of your shoulder to lean on."

That coaxed a small smile out of her. "Deal," she agreed just before the line went dead.

She dared to glance at the old-fashioned clock on the wall and found that she had been sitting there much longer than she had initially thought. It had been an hour and a half since they'd taken Leonard back into the emergency wing, and yet, she still knew nothing. The worry she felt was almost enough to drive her insane.

"Friends or family of Leonard Hofstadter?" a voice suddenly called. She sprung to her feet and ran to the man who had just spoken. "Dr. Timothy Wallace," he introduced himself, extending his hand for her to shake.

She accepted his hand and shook it quickly, wanting to get on with Leonard's situation. "I'm Penny, his girlfriend. How is he?"

"Well, he had a very close call, that's for certain," he told her. "At the moment you brought him in, he was hardly getting the bare minimum of oxygen needed to keep him conscious. His systems were just beginning to shut down, but we managed to open his airways again with the help of a neuraliser. He's going to be very weak for a few days, and I would not recommend sending him back to work until he's fully recovered. Right now, he just needs plenty of rest and relaxation. We're going to keep him overnight for observation, but he should be fine after a good night's sleep and some steroids to help his lungs work to their fullest potential."

Penny couldn't help herself. Before she knew what she was doing, she had thrown her arms around the doctor and was giving him a grateful hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you so much!" she exclaimed, tears leaking out of her eyes.

He seemed to understand her emotional reaction, probably having seen this type of relieved behavior before in other patients' families. "You're more than welcome," he replied with a gentle smile.

Once she got ahold of herself, she quickly released him, an embarassed blush rising to her cheeks. "Sorry about that," she mumbled. Then, another thought struck her. "Can I see him now?"

"Of course. He's in room 221, just down the hall and to the right," he told her. "He's a little disoriented, but he seems to be conscious, for the most part."

"Thank you," Penny said once again before heading down the hallway. And she suddenly remembered... "Oh, and if you see a tall, skinny guy in a striped turtleneck, tell him to meet us down there!"

With that, she started off towards Leonard's room with a small smile on her face. He was alive! He was going to be okay, and she couldn't stop thanking whoever and whatever may have been out there watching them. She'd never been a genuinely religious person, but if she'd ever truly believed in the existance of God, it was right then and there.

Finally, she reached room 221, and she couldn't help but giggle. Along with his many other obsessions, Leonard loved the Sherlock Holmes novels, and his room number corresponded with that of the famous detective. If anything, maybe that would bring a smile to his face. Lord knows he could use something to smile at today!

She quietly pushed the door open and peeked her head inside, her heart jumping into her throat at the sight before her. Leonard was lying almost perfectly still, if not for the rise and fall of his chest. He was hooked up to a heart monitor, which beeped steadily and continuously in the corner, and he had an IV inserted in his arm, gradually distributing the drug that had managed to save his life. No one had bothered to remove his glasses, given that they'd had more important things to worry about, but his eyes were closed as he rested peacefully under the covers.

Penny tried her hardest to contain herself, but she still choked on the emotion bubbling up in her throat. She pulled a chair close to his bedside and took his hand in hers. It was warm as usual, which was comforting after the ordeal back at the apartment. His skin had been ice cold as they'd gotten him into the car.

As she gently ran her thumb in small circles across his hand, he emitted a small noise, halfway between a sigh and a groan, before his eyes slowly began to flicker open. He looked slightly confused for a few seconds, but when he turned his head just enough to see Penny, his disoriented expression was replaced with a smile. "Hi," he whispered, his voice hoarse.

"Hi," she replied softly, a tear escaping her eye and sliding down past her smiling lips. She opened her mouth to speak once more, but she was beyond words. Just knowing that he was alive and well beside her had rendered her speechless. She pressed her lips together to try containing her sobs, but the attempt was futile. She burst into tears, laying her head against the side of his mattress. Her shoulders heaved with the force of her cries, and no matter how hard she tried to compose herself, she couldn't seem to get her emotions in check.

After about a minute or so, she felt Leonard's hand on her head, gently running his fingers through her hair in an attempt to calm her down. "It's okay," he murmured weakly. "I'm not going anywhere."

Once she managed to catch her breath, she slowly lifted her head to look at him. "I almost lost you," she choked out, cupping her hand against his cheek.

"But you didn't," he reminded her gently. "I'm right here."

"I know, but... what if I had?!" she demanded. "You... You're the best thing that's ever happened to me, Leonard. I don't know how I could live without you."

"Penny, I-"

"No, shh, let me finish!" she insisted, putting a finger to his lips. "I've been taking you for granted. I didn't see it before, but I realize it now. I thought that you'd always be there because that's just what you do. You've always been there when I've needed you, and I got used to it too quickly. I just figured that you'd always be there if I wanted to sleep with you or use your shoulder to cry on or if I just needed someone to go to the movies with me! And all of that was almost gone..." she whispered, wiping her tears with the back of her hand. "I even sound selfish now because I'm talking about everything _I'd _be losing if _you_ were the one who had died. I just... _I love you, Leonard!" _she finally exclaimed, laying her head in her hands. "I love you so much..."

There was a thoughtful silence between them for a few moments until Penny felt his gentle touch under her chin, tilting her head up to face him. "I love you too," he said softly. However, the sad look in her eyes still prevailed, and he hated seeing her so distressed. He gave her a small smile and managed to scoot himself over a few inches so she could lay beside him. "Come here," he suggested, patting the spot on the mattress next to him.

He didn't have to ask her twice. Penny climbed up onto the bed beside him and laid her head gingerly against his chest. The gentle thrum of his heartbeat under her ear was so much more comforting to her than it had ever been before. It meant that he was here with her, and he wasn't going anywhere for the moment. She gently turned over onto her side so that she could face her boyfriend and look into his eyes. "Leonard, can I tell you a secret?"

"Anything," he replied, draping his arm lazily across her shoulders.

She smiled as a warm blush filled her cheeks with color. "I had to fill out some paperwork while the doctors had you back here, and... well, I kinda listed myself as 'Penny Hofstadter.'"

Leonard tilted his head to the side, momentarily confused. "Wha-" He began to say before he realized the implications of her statement. "Are you saying you're ready?" he asked softly, a wide grin spreading across his face. "Do you really want to-"

Penny cut him off, wanting to get straight to the point. "Leonard Hofstadter... let's get married!"

Leonard almost stopped breathing for a fraction of a second, but knowing he couldn't risk that again, he focused on taking deep, even breaths until he felt well enough to answer. And of course, his answer was...

"Yes!" he exclaimed softly, stretching his arms around her and pulling her close to him in a tender embrace.

Penny grinned happily, leaning up to place a kiss on his chin. She didn't want to risk kissing his lips right now since he had to work towards breathing normally again, but this was enough for now. It was just Leonard and her, engaged, cuddling, expressing their love for one another simply and genuinely.

It was just the two of them together, the way it was always meant to be.


End file.
